Saturday, September 20, 2008

This is one of those reviews I just love to write because the item is so fun that the post just writes itself.

Plaja Pets are plush toys that come in a dozen different varieties of animals where you can mix and match the parts to create some new horrifically cute critters--I LOVE these guys! I got a box of six or seven mini pets and one large pet and spent way too much time pulling off the magnetic tails and heads and rearranging them, chuckling to myself at how funny I was. I crack me up.

The kids came home and found me playing with the stuffed animals and they gave each other these looks that said: "This is it. Mom really needs more supervision" but they soon got into the fun and it wasn't long before I had to threaten them that if they didn't leave my toys alone I was going to get after them and become very nasty.

It's hard to pick favorites but if you backed me into a corner I'd have to favor the Platypus or the Bunny (though I have to point out that Platypuses--or is it Platypi?--kind of look as if they're a bunch of odd animal parts stuck together at random as it is).

The kids took the mini pets, pulled off the heads and tails and made this great plushy centipedey thingy that has "genetic engineering disaster" written all over it then sent it to attack their Lego buildings.

Anyway, the thing that I also appreciate is that Plaja Pets are reasonably priced. A mini pet runs $7.99 and a large pet runs $15.99, though you'd probably want more than one to get the full benefits of the creative experience. The magnets are strong enough to keep the parts in place when you want them to stay put but easy enough to pull apart that children wouldn't have any trouble manipulating the pieces.

And good news! I have here some Plaja Pets to give away, thanks to Small World Toys who is producing these gems. I have a large Vappu the Goldfish, which you see pictured above, along with a mini rhinoceros and a mini parrot. That ought to get your collection started.

Sorry, I'm keeping the bunny, tiger, monster and monkey--they'll get me through the winter.

Here's how to win:

Before 12 am Monday go to the giveaway entry form on this page and enter your name and email. I will pick one of the names at random, contact the winner via their email and publish the winner's first name and home town in next Tuesday's post. See the bottom of the entry form for more details.

I'm sorry but this giveaway is only open to those with a U.S. address.

These look like way too much fun! I've been trying to enter via the form...for some reason I cannot tell that it is working (so I wonder if it isn't). Thanks! Leslie (youjustgottalaugh[at]gmail[dot]com)

Okay--now how cute are these! And...I think these would be great for 7 of 8 because she would have to use both hands to pull off their 'parts'--we are always looking for things that encourage the use of both hands for therapy--so glad to know about these!!!Blessings!~